


The Demon

by Swansae



Category: Howl's Moving Castle - All Media Types
Genre: Crossroads Deals & Demons, Freedom, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-09
Updated: 2015-03-09
Packaged: 2018-03-17 03:24:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3513500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Swansae/pseuds/Swansae
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What was that night like when young Howl gave his heart away? One-shot.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Demon

The night glowed. The stars whispered to me, twinkling their sweet mutterings. They called to me. Come out, they said. Come out and play. One flew past – it winked at me through the window. Put down your books, it beckoned. Snuff out your candle. Play with us. No one will know. We won’t tell. You can be free, as free as a star, as one of us.

  
I wasn’t aware of getting up, of pushing back my chair and opening the door, but I felt the wind on my face and I knew they had seduced me. Their otherworldly beauty as they flashed across the sky, leaving streaks. How I wished I could fly, never having to stop for a moment. They were so close to me, I could almost touch them. One hit the water and ran, fleetingly brilliant until it was snuffed out, and I knew what they were then. Not ordinary stars, but demons. Madam had warned us of them, of how they would consume your soul and lead you to evil, of how they would remake you in their image and turn you into one of them. Never make a deal with a demon, she had admonished us.

  
But she had never said they were so beautiful.

  
The mud sucked at my shoes but my eyes were on the figures scurrying across the ground until they extinguished, one after another, exploding in pools of colored light. They ran, skipping like embers across the surface. I could never see their deaths; I saw only the life they possessed, so bright compared to my own, smothered existence. I wanted to be free.

  
Then one, brighter than the others, raced across the sky and I caught him in a blinding shower of sparks. I can make you powerful, he said. I can take you away and you will be free. You can use the wings that Solomon forbids you to fly on. You will answer to no one, worry about no one. I can take that burden from you. No one will expect anything of you any longer. Just give me your heart, and you will be free.

  
My heart. What was it good for but breaking when Mother left? What did it do but hurt when Father yelled and beat me saying it was my fault Mother was gone and I was good for nothing, until my powers came and I left for the palace? It raced now, as though pleading its case, and it pounded and squeezed hurting my chest as though it knew and clung not wanting to let go.

 

Can you take the pain away? I asked. What do I do?

  
I will live and you will be free, the demon whispered. Your heart will never break. It will never hurt you again. You can live without fear. He did not have to persuade me. It had been decided from the moment I saw them and envied them. I squeezed my eyes shut and brought the sparking demon to my mouth. My chest burned as it went in and my throat caught – and my heart was in my hand, enveloped in a flame and softly beating.

  
The flame looked up at me with concerned eyes. “Howl,” he said. “Are you okay?”

  
I thought of Mother. I remembered the day she left. I hadn’t wanted her to go. Father had screamed and wept when he found out. It used to haunt me… but I couldn't remember what that meant.


End file.
